2014 MJFF webinar that focused on therapies with the potential
to slow or stop Parkinson’s progression and highlighted the
STEADY-PD III trial. A third peak took place in November 2015,
after an October 2015 MJFF webinar and podcast on studies to
slow or stop PD.
A multitude of subject referral sources bolstered STEADY-PD III
recruitment success (Figure 3, pg. 22). Referral sources were
recorded at the time of screening and logged into case report
forms. These data indicate the top four referral sources were: site
personnel (53.8 percent); neurologists (24 percent); Fox Trial
Finder (10.2 percent); and MJFF communications (3.9 percent).
Discussion
By having a comprehensive recruitment plan and involving key
stakeholders early in the planning phase of the clinical trial,
STEADY-PD III was able to successfully recruit its full target
population six months ahead of schedule. They identified
study and site level barriers that had the potential to negatively
impact recruitment, and were able to develop a strategy to
mitigate them. One important component of that strategy was
implementation of a comprehensive outreach and awareness
campaign. Stakeholders such as PDF maximized peer-to-peer
engagement via the PAIR program and local events including
the Brain and Health Fair and the Unity Walk; NPF harnessed
the power of social media through webinars and press releases;
MJFF leveraged technology such as Fox Trial Finder to connect
volunteers to trial teams; and The Muhammad Ali Foundation
increased participation of historically underrepresented
minority populations with community engagement, translation
of materials and outreach through the “Southwestern
Parkinson’s Newsletter.” The use of local grassroots events and
social media activities, combined with a proactive approach
to recruitment, helped to engage and make aware a broader
population than would have been possible for clinical trial sites
alone. This approach also enabled study teams to connect
with a more diverse population of patients who obtain their
information from a variety of media and news sources. While
the impact of these efforts is somewhat challenged by self-
reported referral source data (Figure 3, pg.22), we posit that
this is less about the efficacy of these efforts and more about
challenges stemming from memory recall bias in referral
source attribution. Greater efforts such as interviewer training,
better referral source definition and alternative means of
data collection should be considered for future recruitment
campaigns to improve the accuracy of attribution. 10
Continued on page 22
Figure 1. Actual vs. Projected Enrollment
350
300
250
200
150
Cumulative No. of
Actual Enrollments
100
Projected
50
0
10 June
2014
10
18 Sept
2014
27 Dec
2014
06 Apr
2015
15 Jul
2015
23 Oct
2015
31 Jan
2016
10 May
2016
Hassan E (2005) Recall Bias can be a Threat to Retrospective and Prospective Research Designs. The Internet Journal of Epidemiology 3.
Chapter 3 — Building a Recruitment Strategy and Toolkit 21